The 243 postcards in this collection present colorful views of historic Texas, from Houston in the east to El Paso out west, from Laredo down south to Amarillo up north. The painted, sketched, and photographed images depict historic buildings, street scenes, and landscapes to reveal Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and other locales as they were in the early 1900s.

Drawn from the larger George Fuermann Texas and Houston Collection, this group represents the subset of postcards that date from before 1925. Especially noteworthy are the postcards from the Alamo, the State Capitol, turn-of-the-century Galveston, and many of downtown Houston’s earliest commercial buildings. Also pictured are rivers, lakes, city parks, railroad bridges, hotels, churches, and court houses from all over the state. Both the front and back of each postcard are included in the digital collection, so viewers can read the personal greetings handwritten by the original senders.

Legendary Houston newspaperman and historian George M. Fuermann gathered these postcards over the course of two decades for his book research. From 1946 to 1995, Fuermann was a reporter, editor, and columnist for the Houston Post, where his work included a long-running column called “Post Card,” based on snippets of local history. Fuermann also published numerous books, mostly on the history and people of the city of Houston.